The Adventure of the Professor's Brother
by Sam Doyle
Summary: Sherlock Holmes and Watson witness a murder in train station and team up to solve.


The Adventure of the Professor's Brother

In the summer of 1894, two years after the return of my comrade Holmes we were visiting a cousin of mine in Sussex. We stayed for a week and arrived in London at around four. Holmes and I were strolling through the crowd as Holmes spoke of tattoos prepared in China. He stated the long process of them and the distinction from a Chinese one to a British one. We soon stopped and Holmes took the time to light his pipe. "Smoking is one of the virtues of life, my dear Watson. Unfortunately a man's health takes quite a hit." Holmes' suddenly stopped smiling, and he planted his cane upon the ground. "Fly, Watson, a man has fallen." "Pardon, my dear Holmes." "Fly, Watson, fly!" I walked along with Holmes in a confused fashion. He was eager and started to run. What was compelling Holmes to suddenly go back? Then I saw a ring of folks besieging the corpse of a man. The man was skeletal; his skin was thinly stretched over him. Doctors could acquire a large amount of knowledge from the skeleton from this man. He wore thick eye glasses, which had cracked form his fall on his side. His nose was crooked and his face looked beaten, his hair was brown and starting to show a light grey. He stood at about two meters; and he carried an ivory cane similar to the one my comrade was holding. Holmes stepped towards the carcass and was investigating it, along with the area around it, tapping around at the ground of the platform with his cane. He walked about fifty meters off to the side and pulled out a magnifying glass. I watched Holmes until a familiar face arrived on to the scene. Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Holmes turned to see our acquaintance and spoke. "Hullo, Lestrade, I see you have made quite a name for yourself at the yard." "All thanks to you Holmes. What have you deduced?" "I was hoping you asked Lestrade, I do believe you have gotten familiar with my little trick. It is your turn; let us see what you can deduce." Lestrade pulled out a cigar and offered one to the two of us. I accepted Holmes, relit his pipe. Lestrade examined the man's body, flipped him over. "Whoever had the courage to shoot this man, had no interest in robbery. The murderer wanted vengeance I presume." "It could be a criminal assassination, Lestrade." I spoke. "No," he responded as he pulled out some papers from the breast pocket of the man's overcoat, "These documents may shed some light on the subject. Care to read them Doctor." I took the papers and I read, "Dearest Doctor Samuel Thompson, I have ordered the chloroform needed for the operation, and the signatures have been obtained, the operation can be conducted. Show this paper at the hospital on Webbley Street and they will hand it to you. Sincerely Doctor Eli Alden." "Judging by the handwriting, Doctor Thompson is the dead man right here." Holmes remarked. "How can you tell, Holmes?" Questioned Lestrade "The handwriting is very steady and written by a strong hand. While Dr. Thompson here is around fifty and a very skeletal man, also judging by the thinness of his arms he is not a strong man or very steady." "So he is a doctor." Lestrade remarked. "What else can you make of it, Lestrade?" "The man was shot with a soft nosed revolver bullet at about a forty five degree angle, making the bullet come from that direction," He pointed to a mass of bushes and trees about fifty meters away. "The man was not expecting it, and the only intention for the murder that can be made out is vengeance. What act has this man committed to receive such grotesque display of aggression? "The assassination, my dear Lestrade was not meant for this man, it was meant for me." "What?" I ejaculated; I was much perplexed by Holmes' sudden remark. "For you Holmes?" Lestrade said to my comrade. "Now Lestrade the crowd was large and I noticed this man when Watson and I were strolling through the mass. He was about a half a meter behind us; he later stopped to check the schedule for his train. When Watson and I stopped and I smoked my pipe I saw the man was struck down. The force indicated a revolver bullet. When I examined the corpse, my assumption was supported by the evidence. Yet no sound was heard. A revolver is highly pressurized and would create a large noise when fired. I kept note of that and moved along. The range of a revolver is not too far, being about fifty meters in distance. I paced that far and saw the powder of a gun. The powder though was not one of a Webley revolver but one of an air rifle, which is virtually noiseless. Next to the powder of the rifle was the ash of a cigar. As I have told Watson, I have the ability to successfully identify 32 different brands of cigar ash. This I can identify as a Trichinopoly, the ash has a trademark of being flakey and dark in color. You may recall this cigar Lestrade, from the Jefferson Hope case. The trail of the Trichinopoly ash leads to this mass of bushes to wear it was extinguished and discarded. The air rifle is a trade mark of the late Professor James Moriarty and his employee Colonel Sebastian Moran. Before the death of my nemesis every month he would send his brother a hundred Trichinopolys. Moriarty's younger brother lives in Liverpool and is a Colonel also shares the male name in the Moriarty family, James. The Colonel worked under his elder brother and preformed assassinations. With the Professor at the bottom of the Reichenbach Fall and Colonel Moran imprisoned, that leaves the younger Moriarty on his own. As you can note from the back of this man's head," Holmes knelt down to flip the body over, "He bears a resemblance to me. His hair is the same color, length and is also styled the same as well. In addition Dr. Thompson and I are the same height and are both wearing top hats and carrying ivory canes. Also we are wearing similar trousers, similar overcoats and smoking a pipe. So a man could easily see the doctor from behind and mistake him for me. Colonel Moriarty wanting vengeance for the murderer of his brother and decided to shoot me." "My god Holmes, how do you do it?" I exclaimed I very much shocked how simply he figured it out. "Elementary, when you eliminate the improbable whatever remains no matter how impossible must be the answer. It is backwards thinking my dear Watson." "Where is this Colonel Moriarty Holmes?" "He lives on Alma Road in Liverpool, address 326C, Watson and I will accompany you he is the most dangerous man." "Very well." About an hour later, Lestrade, Holmes and I were all outside the door of Colonel James Moriarty. We had our revolvers drawn and prepared to shoot if needed so. Lestrade knocked on the door and then he yelled. "Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade, you are under arrest." "My dear Lestrade, sometimes you have to think like a criminal." Holmes fired his revolver at the hinges of the door and kicked it open. "Moriarty!" He yelled. "Well, you must be Mr. Holmes I have been expecting you." The Colonel was the striking image of is elder brother, his hair though was thicker and a lighter brown than the Professor. "You are under arrest," Lestrade spoke. "We can get to the legality, Inspector." Moriarty picked up his cane. Holmes nudged me and the two of us fired. One bullet lodged itself in Moriarty's left shoulder, while the other was in his collar bone area. Moriarty fell over and his air rifle concealed inside his cane fired. It missed us and slammed into the wall. "Mister Holmes you will not leave here alive." He cocked the air rifle and prepared to fire. Holmes whipped his cane around and slammed it into Moriarty's. It tumbled to the ground, he quickly spun it around and struck Moriarty in the side of the head and he fell over on his side. The two of us cocked our revolvers while Lestrade went over to secure the handcuffs upon him. Moriarty lunged straight at Holmes, who with one shot with the revolver shot Moriarty dead. "Well, Holmes, I say we can count this as assault and attempted murder." The two of us walked out of his home leaving Lestrade to carry the deceased Moriarty to the mortuary. "I did not want to shoot Moriarty but justice must be enforced. I say his death will not weigh heavily upon my conscience." 


End file.
